


All the Small Things

by PhantomWriter



Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, M/M, Post-Season/Series 15
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 07:23:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20653373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomWriter/pseuds/PhantomWriter
Summary: Two girls from the future claimed to be Sam's granddaughters.They have too much to reveal regarding their future, and the people involved were barely equipped to handle the revelations.





	All the Small Things

It started exactly the same way Sam and Dean encountered their grandfather, Henry Winchester: a previously normal-looking door at the motel that glowed from the other side and out came a person.

Well, two people, in this case. Two girls who tumbled in an ungraceful landing and pained groans on the floor. One was a brunette and another a redhead that made Sam incongruously remember a certain occasional ally witch.

Dean was the first to recover from the shock and out with a gun pointed at the two. "What are you and what are you doing here?"

Sam, despite the alarm and suspicion ringing their bells in his head and him mimicking Dean's guarded stance, oddly felt concerned at what appeared to be two roughly teenage girls who came out of nowhere.

"Woah, easy," said the brunette. She pushed up her glasses and grimaced upon seeing Sam and Dean. She nudged her companion who gave the brothers a stink eye. "We're not here to—uh, we're not here to hurt you."

Dean scoffed. "If there's anybody here doing the hurting, it's us, missy. So stuff it. What are you?"

The redhead scowled at the question, though the expression earned her a pinch from the brunette. "Right, right. Sorry. We're humans if that's what you're worried about," the same girl who spoke said. She raised her hands in surrender.

"Yeah because that's exactly what humans will say when asked 'what are you?'" Dean deadpanned. Sam thought he was being a special kind of bitchy today, but, right. He was supposed to be on Dean's side here.

The brunette sighed exasperatedly. "You have a point, sir," she said calmly, crossing her arms. "But I'm not lying about us. We _are_ humans, and I do think it's important to assert that first thing especially when encountering fellow hunters."

"You? Hunters?" Dean snorted. "Please."

That irked the redhead girl, it seemed, because the next thing they knew, she was shouting, "_Abi!_"

Suffice to say, the impact sent both Sam and Dean flying against the walls, and, wow, they didn't miss that _at all_.

"Wena!" Sam heard the other girl yell, aghast.

Sam's back hurt like hell when he fell on the floor, and yet the first thing he registered was the name that sounded like 'Rowena' and that was neither here nor there.

"That's it. Witches, huh." Dean was already on his feet, loading his gun with two witch-killing bullets.

Sam watched as a blur of dark hair rushed towards Dean and kicked him in the crotch. The redhead girl cheered when Dean crumpled on his knees, hissing. Sam was on high alert, and kid or not, he has to subdue them before—

Sam paused within a few steps, not looking forward to being kneed in the groin. He'd had some phantom pain from the Nutcracker on occasion, thank you very much. Without any other choice that didn't involve roughing up some kids, Sam opted for words.

"Okay," he said, placing down his gun and kicking Dean's away. Dean shot him an incredulous look of _are you insane?!_ that Sam readily leveled with a flat stare. "Give us a name and we can all talk peacefully. That good?"

The brunette relaxed immediately and stood straighter. "I'm Kelly, sir, and this is my sister Rowena. I know this is all weird barging in on you, but—this is Peoria, Illinois, yes?"

"Yeah," Sam managed to answer despite the names that sounded too good to be a coincidence. Kelly? Rowena? Sisters? What was going on here?

Rowena—the redhead girl, Sam thought unhelpfully instead—apparently looked relieved. "The spell worked then," she chirped with a smug grin to her sister.

Kelly shushed her a bit too late. Warily, she addressed both Sam and Dean. "As for your question earlier, we're not really witches _witches_, you know? We, ah, do a bit of spell, but not enough to label us witches."

"Let them, Lee." Rowena harrumphed. "It's not like they can touch us."

Dean chuckled humorlessly as he sat on the bed, still furious. "Pray tell, miss, why we couldn't?"

"Because if you do, Uncle Jack will find out, and so does grandpa. Oh, he's nice, alright, but you don't want to face his wrath."

Kelly looked like she was seconds away from facepalming or yelling for her sister to shut up. Whichever came first.

Dean, with injured pride and hurt balls, humored the girl. "And who's this grandpa of yours who's not ridden with arthritis?"

Sam racked his brain for names of any old hunters that they knew and tried to think whether there were some they have to watch out for. Senior hunters were no joke if they could live this long in the hunting business.

Rowena huffed. "Why, Sam Winchester, of course!"

Also, there was the matter of some tension with a couple of hunters who—

Wait.

What?

"Sam Winchester," Dean repeated, face blank. "_Samuel_ Winchester."

"Unless there's another Samuel Winchester that you know." Rowena rolled her eyes.

Dean tilted his head, but when he glanced at Sam he was unable to keep the laugh that escaped him. "Dude, you didn't tell me you have grandkids already."

And Sam would have hit him for that, if that little fact registered as a joke, if it didn't make everything else click with sense and clarity.

When Sam met Kelly's stare with a gasp of realization coming from her, Sam was almost afraid to ask.

"Kelly, what year do you think is it?"

Even she was afraid to answer, but out came a low-voiced reply from her of a year that should be _four_ decades from then.

Amidst his surprise, Sam tried with utmost effort on how to make the revelation with finesse because the two girls weren't their first time traveler for goodness's sake.

"Welcome to 2020," Sam said instead, with an awkward chuckle and the brazen tact of a lumbering moose.

Time travel was officially the least of his favorites.

* * *

"Time travelers," Dean muttered. "So messing with time runs in the family?"

"I don't think it's intentional," Sam whispered, warily eyeing the girls who were busy poring over the diner menu. They must be hungry. "I mean. Henry did it to escape, and Abaddon just followed. The girls must have thought it was a teleportation spell. They did ask about the place."

"What's with Illinois and their motel doors?" Dean grumbled. The girls looked at him briefly. Rowena scowled at him. Dean's expression turned even sourer. "You done yet? Don't tell me you're planning to buy out the diner."

The girls turned red, though Kelly's was out of embarrassment while Rowena looked irritated and close to yelling another spell until Kelly pinched her arm.

"Dean," Sam said in warning. He expected Dean to be the adult in this. Sam addressed the girls, "I'm guessing the time travel is purely accidental. Any reason why you attempted to perform the spell?"

"Gabriel was kidnapped," Rowena said when Kelly looked hesitant to answer.

"Um, are you sure it's alright for us to answer your questions? I mean, we're from the future and we might jinx it once you find out some things," Kelly said reasonably.

"Sure," Dean agreed. "But we have to make sure that the danger you were running to didn't follow you here. Happened once. Was a pain in the ass."

"The Henry Winchester and Abaddon incident," Kelly said automatically. When Dean raised an eyebrow, she glanced down shyly. "You told me that."

There was silence when their orders were brought in. The waitress eyed Dean and Sam and sent the two young girls a questioning glance. Sam would have felt offended if he didn't understand how they appeared in public: two men too young to be fathering two girls their age. It was weird.

"So are flying cars a thing in your time?" Dean suddenly asked with a mouthful of pancakes. When Sam sighed beside him, Dean just shrugged. "That's like an obligatory question when you meet someone from the future, dude. 'sides, that's a safe question."

"Flying cars? That's silly," Rowena huffed. "_Back to the Future _thought those were available back in 2015. Look how wrong they were."

Dean looked startled. "I made you watch that?"

"Uncle John did. He won't shut up about movies." She turned her little nose. "He got it from you."

"Oh." Dean's eyes softened imperceptibly. "John, huh."

Sam was against any other name-drop—it was bad enough that two of his supposed grandchildren from the future were just across the table—but watching Dean's expression reminded them that it was one of the very few things they looked forward to: a larger family and the setting down of roots. It was nice to know that there was still hope for them in that department despite their current lifestyle that they would hardly change even after the close call to another world-ending cataclysm.

"So, can you return to your time with the same spell you used?" Sam asked, changing the topic to the issue at hand lest he gave in to the temptation to ask about a lot of things, starting with whether he was the paternal or maternal grandfather of Kelly and Rowena and who was their grandmother.

"We're not sure," Kelly admitted. "You know that we only meant to transport ourselves from one place to another. We didn't bring ingredients with us to replicate the spell again." She paused, then jolted as if she remembered something crucial. "Oh, the bunker. That's already your headquarters, yeah? There could be a stock of the ingredients we need there. That is if you don't mind helping us out."

"Of course not. Help yourself with the bunker, we'll hit the road once we're done with breakfast," Sam said. He made a mental note to call Cas later and have him and Jack ready the ingredients and the tools needed in case they got back early.

"Are you not currently on a case?" Rowena asked.

"We're already done with it, actually. You caught us at the right time."

"Great!" Rowena chirped. "We can get to working as soon as possible."

"You got your mood swings from your namesake, alright," Dean commented tersely. "Speaking of—Sam, call Rowena. She might know something with this spell. Also helps that they have an expert's supervision. In case they mess it up again. No offense, kids."

Kelly looked chagrined, and Sam expected her sister to be livid; instead, however, the redhead girl was, in fact, excited, eyes gleaming as she smacked her poor sister by the shoulder.

"We're meeting grandma, Lee. Our young grandma! I bet she's prettier in person," Rowena gushed.

Dean stopped eating and Sam almost spilled his coffee when it dawned to him.

"You're saying Rowena is your grandmother?" Dean, the first to recover from the revelation, said slowly. "_Rowena_, the redheaded witch with the Scottish accent. That Rowena?"

The redheaded girl leveled Dean with a flat stare as if saying 'Duh'. "You mean my name didn't give it away?"

"Well, your sister's name is Kelly, who's obviously not your grandmother since you just referred to Jack as uncle," Dean reasoned like that was the most surprising thing they should focus on.

"I liked you more when you were older," Rowena said. "And I'll have you know that I look like my grandma Rowena. My mom even said so."

"But if Rowena's your grandma and Sam's your grandpa—well, it's possible they're on separate sides—"

"Oh my god. They're our grandparents, okay? That union started a line of strong blood born from a topnotch hunter and a natural-born witch, so obviously our mom—"

"Rowena, shut up right now!" Kelly suddenly yelled, silencing her sister and had the attention of the diners and the staff on them.

Sam left a couple of bills on the table and was well-aware of the judging looks on them as they followed Rowena after she stormed out of the establishment.

Sam couldn't blame them; a few hours in, they were clearly failing to reign in two teenagers.

* * *

"Hey, no jumping out of a moving car, capeesh?" Dean warned the girls at the backseat, particularly the redhead. Sam was sure Dean was close to addressing her as a drama queen.

Rowena completely ignored Dean. Kelly simply nodded and looked out the window. The sisters were both quiet half an hour on the trip, the tension palpable between them that even the brothers began to feel uncomfortable. They weren't strangers to sibling quarrel, and they both agreed that it sucked to have one especially in a car.

"I just don't want you spilling too much information about the future, alright?" Kelly was the first to speak after the tension became unbearable for her.

"I know," grumbled Rowena after a while, her face turned the other way. "I just—never mind."

That cleared the air a bit.

"So, Sammy. You and Rowena, I see," Dean spoke as a distraction. And Sam would have thanked him for it if not for his choice of topic.

Sam sighed, fiddling with his phone so he won't look at his brother. "Now's not the time, Dean."

Dean pointedly ignored him. "I mean, I'd say I didn't see that one coming—heh, no pun intended." He grinned at his own joke. "But that explains the new taste for porn. Redheads? I thought you're into brunettes, Sammy."

"How did you even—you know what, can we not have this conversation while there are children at the back?" Sam hissed, flushing from his cheeks to his neck.

"That's the thing, Sam. I didn't know. You just confirmed it." Dean sent him a wink and a strong pat against his chest. "Just call her, man. It's for a professional matter. She can be the grandmother of your grandkids later."

Sam pretended that he didn't see through the rearview mirror the girls stifling their grins.

"Right," Sam huffed. He found Rowena's number on speed dial and called.

"_What's so important in this fine a morning, Samuel?"_ came Rowena's voice from the speakers, sounding groggy and mildly irritated to be disturbed from her sleep.

"We need your help," Sam said.

"_Obviously. You never call me for a social meeting."_

"Can you make it this afternoon? It's kinda urgent."

Rowena groaned from the other line. _"Someone's dying?"_

"Uh, no. Hopefully not."

"_The world is ending again?"_

"I don't think so."

"_Then it's not bloody urgent, Samuel."_

The two girls at the back burst into a fit of giggles at the exchange.

"_You're not with Dean?"_

"In here," Dean called like a student in a roll-call.

"Dean's driving." Sam wasn't obtuse enough to not get the underlying question there. "There are two kids with us. They're the ones who need your help with a spell."

"_While it's commendable that children are introduced to witchcraft at a young age, I don't advice dabbling with it without adult supervision."_

"Exactly why they need you."

Sam heard her hum in consideration. _"And here I thought you're looking for any reason to see me, Samuel,"_ she said sweetly.

Dean made a mock-gagging noise. "Hey, less flirting, more driving to the bunker."

And this was coming from the person who shamelessly teased Sam for his, er, acquired taste.

"We'll see you there," Sam said, disregarding Dean's ribbing. "Take care, Rowena," he added as an afterthought.

"_Ever the gentleman, Samuel," _Rowena remarked dryly, promptly cutting off the line.

Sam made a bitchface at Dean. "I called her. You happy now?"

"Are you?" Dean shot back.

"Shut up," Sam grumbled. He turned to the girls at the back. "You probably won't like this, but I think it's better if you won't tell her who you really are."

"But—" the redheaded girl—Sam was going to call her Ro; all these same names could be confusing—was about to retort, but upon looking at Kelly, she reluctantly agreed. "Fine. Besides, there's a possibility that we might wipe ourselves from existence. Right, Lee?"

Kelly nodded grimly. "Yeah. Us being here alone probably caused some changes already. Hopefully nothing too massive."

"That could happen? You can possibly jinx your birth or something?" Dean asked with a frown. When Sam raised an eyebrow at him, he shrugged. "I'm curious. Cas did warn us of making any changes when he brought us back a couple of times in the past, but the first time he also said that time is fluid. There's also the matter of alternate universes and such. I dunno. What if it's a quantum thing, you know? Wherein you won't return to the future you originally came from but on an alternate future where you barely notice the changes but they're still there. Like the movie _Coherence._"

"That's the term 'quantum' in movies are, Dean. Sci-fi films tend to slap that word along time-travel and physics mumbo-jumbo."

"So? Not all viewers are physicists."

"Fine, you have a point, but you don't have to needlessly scare them." Sam gestured at the girls.

"We're not scared, because we _know_ we'll return where the others are probably looking for us," Ro said, though it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more.

"Worst case scenario is you're going to be stuck with us for a few more days, but rest assured that we'll do our best to bring you home," Sam promised them, earning him a small smile of gratitude from Kelly.

They came through apocalypses, alternate universes, and even God. What was sending two girls from the future compared to those?

* * *

Cas and Jack were already at the bunker when they arrived. Dean was clearly surprised to find them early.

"How's the hunt?" he asked once he recovered, tousling Jack's hair when he passed him.

"Good," Cas simply said.

They both averted each other's eyes and skirted around _something_ that Sam couldn't put his finger on as he observed the exchange.

"These are the time-travelers you speak of." Cas approached them. "Hello, children."

Kelly gave him a small wave while Ro smiled at Cas impishly.

"And you plan to return them the same manner they did." Sam nodded in confirmation.

"I can help," Jack readily suggested, watching the two girls curiously. "I can bring them back."

"That'll be easier but also perilous. You're strong, Jack, but we can't have you risk it yet knowing you're untrained with time-traveling, and riding the stream of time is not easy even for the experienced travelers. Not to mention the two charges you'll have to carry with you," Cas reasoned that didn't leave much room for argument.

Jack didn't put up much of a fight against the fair argument, though he did look like a kicked-puppy for being denied.

"But you can help us remove this encounter in their minds," Cas said. "Yours and Dean's too," he reminded Sam.

Ro was ready to protest though beaten by Dean to it. "Woah. Why Sam and me too?"

"I assume you already know a lot about the future."

"The fact that Sam and Rowena's gonna bang more than once and I'm going to have a kid named John—that's it."

Cas shook his head. "It's possible that Sam and Rowena might not end up together, thus erasing their child and grandchildren from existence," he said amidst Sam's explanation to a terribly curious Jack who was strangely looking at Sam at the background. "That's only a minor example, Dean. You know the rules."

"Forgive me if I'm having doubts about having my mind erased, Cas, because while that didn't happen to me before, it happened to Mom when I could have warned her against her death," Dean said sharply. "There could have been no apocalypse and the retakes that followed; Sam could have been a lawyer by now, married to Jess; Dad wouldn't have died; we could've had simple lives where people wouldn't die on association with us!"

There was an uncomfortable silence that followed at Dean's sudden outburst.

For all his usual expression of blankness, Cas seemed like he was slapped on the face. "I didn't know that the life you have now makes you incredibly unhappy. I'm sorry I assumed." Cas walked out of the war room with Jack on his heels.

Dean's jaw tightened at Cas's retreat. He stood. "Call me if you need me for later."

Watching Dean's back disappearing in the hallway made Sam frustratingly blame himself that he should have seen this coming, starting with their parting with Cas and Jack yesterday. Sam had chalked Dean's testiness to exhaustion, and obviously there was more to it.

"Sorry you have to see that," Sam apologized, not forgetting the two girls one bit who witnessed the unpleasant interaction. He hoped that they wouldn't interpret it as them being an indirect cause of it all; they were way too young for self-blaming. "Let's get you lunch."

Sam was unable to fight off the urge to gather them both each on his sides, planting his hands on their small backs as he steered them towards the kitchen.

* * *

Dean wouldn't have answered the door if he hadn't mentioned that they get him should the need arise.

To his surprise, though, it was Kelly who came bearing him food and a beer and asking for entry. Reluctantly, Dean allowed her in for the peace-offering alone.

Kelly was taught well enough to just sit there, though she was apparently not told that staring was rude when someone was eating.

"Relax, kid, I'll eat it," Dean assured her wryly. It was one of Sam's salad and burgers that were thankfully not made of fake meat.

Kelly moved around while Dean ate, and Dean was far distracted to care about her touching his collection of records and cassette. His worry was unfounded when she returned them neatly the same way Dean arranged them.

"You a fan of music, kid?" he asked, still unsure what Kelly wanted with him.

"Even in this decade, most people are," she said absently. "My playlist is composed mostly of your suggestions. We pretty much have the same taste."

A smirk paved its way on Dean's face. "Oh yeah?"

"We like classic movies, and at Christmas eves you liked playing _The Lord of the Rings _that I already memorized Aragorn's speech. We both developed a taste for psychological thrillers. You liked _Enemy_, I think, because no matter how much you complained how confusing the ending was, you'd asked me to watch it with you so we could analyze it together."

Dean didn't miss the change in tenses, and he took a more somber appearance when he watched her sit on the edge of the bed and stared somewhere far away. Dean listened.

"You liked your burgers greasier the more you got older, and you make a mean one with bacon with too much cheese. That's my favorite," Kelly shared. "At fifty-eight, you got injured by a werewolf that clawed your back. You got a mean scar that looked badass, and you were so proud of it." She didn't turn to Dean, seemingly gathering her bony legs against her chest. "When Uncle John said he wasn't interested to join the hunting business, you sent him to the most prestigious school you could afford because you wanted the best for him. You were supportive of his choice of career so he became a good doctor. Uncle Rob's the one who became a hunter but he had to stop when he met Aunt Georgia and they had Gabriel. In the end, it was Aunt Jo who truly got into the hunting career. You were against it at first, until you realized that was unfair of you to her. Now, she and Aunt Claire make a fine tandem. Uncle John, Uncle Robert, and Aunt Jo might be your adopted kids, but that never stopped you and Cas from raising and loving them unconditionally. You were a firm believer that family didn't end in blood, and it showed."

Dean swallowed thickly, taking the load of information in. So he didn't get to make his own children, but it turned out that he would have two great sons named after his fathers and a daughter named in honor of Jo. And he raised them with Cas, a fact that caused some repressed feelings to well up inside him.

The thing was, Dean could picture that, a family. A family with Cas and three adoptive children. In some part of his mind, there was a surge of hope to seeing that future a couple of years from now.

Dean didn't have those yet and he was already unwilling to let that go.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked when he finally managed to speak.

"Because it doesn't matter anyway if you won't remember them in the end," Kelly told him. "Because I want you to know at least before that that Cas assumed wrong. You were happy. It wasn't an easy life, but if it was, you wouldn't have met the other people you have now. You wouldn't have known Cas, Aunt Jack, Bobby, Aunt Charlie, and everyone else that brought you here and made you to what you are now and what you'll be. You were happy, and you told me that yourself the day before you died."

Dean wondered if this was what his Mom felt all those years ago when she met her sons from the future, when Dean warned her about her death. He remembered that she cried then, overwhelmed, maybe. It was exactly what Dean was experiencing right now.

He could barely find it in himself to be surprised at the small arms that wrapped around his torso, squeezing him in an embrace.

Kelly sniffled against his chest. "I miss you, grandpa. So much."

Dean let her glasses dig against his skin. He was unsure how what to say to that, but maybe there was no need to reply. He let her take her time, his hand eventually found the top of her small head.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Dean rasped. He felt her shook her head. "How did I die, Kelly?"

"Heart attack." She sniffed, letting Dean go in the process. "I wasn't there when it happened, but they said it was all very sudden."

Dean didn't doubt that because after all the dangers of monsters and divine entities, he was more convinced that what would truly take him out of commission was something unexpected, something he didn't see coming. Because life was unexpected that way.

Looking at Kelly, Dean was proven his point.

* * *

"Where's Kelly?" Sam asked when he found Ro wandering the library alone.

"She went to see Dean," Ro answered, pulling out William Golding's _Lord of the Flies. _She wrinkled her nose at the dust and settled the book down on the table. She found Sam staring at her, and added, "They're probably having their chick-flick moment so I'm going to read something while we wait."

Kelly having an emotional moment with Dean? Not only that was uncharacteristic of Dean, but there was only one reason he could think of that Kelly would see him. Sam supposed all that precaution about revealing too much about the future was already thrown out of the window when selective memory erasure was mandatory. Sam sat heavily across Ro. "Why?" he asked.

"Aside from the fact that this is a one-time opportunity?" Ro tilted her head, pushing the book away carefully, losing her interest in it. "Kelly misses him. They were… close."

Sam took his time to swallow past the lump in his throat. It wasn't that he expected each other to live forever, but still. To hear that Dean would pass before him, well, it wasn't exactly pleasant news. "How long ago in your time did he..." he trailed off quietly.

"Last year. Cardiac arrest," Ro supplied. "I'm not as close to him as Lee was, but he was alright. Protective, just like you, but if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have some of our cool uncles and aunts. Everyone took his death hard, as expected for someone loved and respected dearly. You've made peace with it quickly, you told Mom. Cas is—was, a different matter."

Sam was almost afraid to ask, and somehow Ro sensed it, continuing, "He disappeared a week after. We still don't know what happened to him, but Uncle Jack had grieved for him as well. He said that wherever they are now, they're both at peace, so there's that."

Sam took comfort in the knowledge that Dean would live a long, contented life either way, with children and grandchildren of his own, it seemed. He would have the rest of his life with Cas even. Sam was glad that he and Dean had both reached the point where they were comfortable laying each other to rest, with no talk of resurrections or second tries.

"You might as well ask me a lot," Ro said when a blanket of somber silence passed them. Sam believed that was her attempt to change the dismal topic. "We won't remember about any of this anyway."

Sam was lying if he said that he wasn't curious and was in dire need of distraction from knowing Dean's death in a few decades. He asked for the names of the next three presidents, the new technological development, the discovery of new elements, the sensational books released. Ro answered him to her utmost best, and Sam found her general knowledge impressive. For a moment he recognized the pride in him for having this brilliant girl and Kelly, who happened to be a _jiu-jitsu _black belter at a young age, as his future granddaughters.

"You know, I expected you to ask more specific things," Ro said wistfully. "Nothing depressing, just… specific."

The tone in her suggestion was unmistakable. Sam huffed out an awkward laugh. "Doesn't matter. There's no time for your matchmaking," he replied, a tad amused.

"Psh. If Dean said you're already showing signs of attraction before you knew you'll get together with grandma, then there's no need to worry, is there?"

"Better take precaution still. Things can easily change."

"So are people," Ro said knowingly. "If grandma didn't change for the better, I doubt you would consider her even as a friend."

Now that she mentioned it, Sam was there when Rowena was, in her own words, a villain, and he was there as well to see through her redemption. Sam liked the strong and capable woman he saw underneath the flaws and pettiness she deemed to have. While a work in progress, he liked the room for growth he saw in her, the ability to tremendously care and willingness to sacrifice if need to be. Sam developed a special fondness for her wit and particular brand of dark humor, the twinkle in her green eyes when she called his name in a teasing note. And don't get him started on her physical qualities.

Oh, damn, Sam glumly thought in realization. He had it bad already.

Ro raised an eyebrow at him and smirked smugly. The expression didn't last long, her young face settling for something unbidden. "She wasn't the easiest person to be with, but you didn't love her any less. Mom and her brother knew that. You had a good run with grandma."

Unlike the mention of Dean's death earlier, Ro made Rowena's passing sound less dismal, that—morbidly it might seem—it was inevitable. There was no uncertainty in Sam when he asked, "How did it happen?"

He promised to himself that it was the last question about another person's death that he would ask.

Ro's smile at him was ambivalent. "She died in her sleep. And before you ask, no, she didn't die by your hand. Mom said you almost forgot about that prophecy thing until her tenth birthday, when you finally acknowledged that if there was something fictional stories kept saying, it was that prophecies were not all pretty cut and dry. You married grandma a month after, and I guess that was it. You didn't 'kill' her, but you did just make a 300-year-old witch give up her immortality for you so that she can grow old with you."

Sam's reeling mind was unable to register the clicking sound of heels walking towards the library until Rowena herself entered with crossed arms, fuming.

* * *

"I was under the notion that when you called me for an urgent matter, everything is all set once I arrive," Rowena criticized.

Sam cleared his throat. "Cas said that we already have what we need." He gestured vaguely behind him. "I'll just uh—I'll just go get them."

Ro watched him beat a hasty retreat. When Rowena's attention was on her, critical, the girl straightened her back.

"And you wee girl would be?"

"Rowan, ma'am," Ro lied easily, extending her hand.

Rowena considered her small hand for a second before shaking it daintily. "That works as well."

Sam came back and helped with the initial set up. Ro took the moment to slip to the kitchen and bring out a teapot and cup, pouring Rowena tea.

"Where did you find such a darling girl? " Rowena whispered at Sam, humming in approval at the drink.

By the time Rowena was done, Sam looked relieved that she was easily appeased. Ro winked at him.

Rowena regarded the girl. "You don't look as young as Samuel made you to be."

Ro took the observation as a compliment, seemingly glowing at the words. "No, but I myself should be called a child for my mistake." She sighed dramatically and explained the situation for Rowena.

It was a bit frightening how Ro acted like a younger version of Rowena, easily winning over the latter's sympathy, and by the end of her tale, they were both in each other's personal space, with Rowena tucking away a stray lock of Ro's red hair.

Yeah, there was no mistaking of their relation there, Sam thought wryly.

"And you made sure that nobody else could follow through the door you used?" Rowena queried.

"The spell was specifically for only Lee and me," Ro assured her. "Designed to work only one way. Once."

Rowena looked mildly impressed. "You have strong foundations, dear. I wish I could say the same for the girls wanting to be my apprentice." She glanced at Sam. "Are you sure the consequences will be too dire if we keep her?"

"Rowena," Sam started, though he sounded more amused and fond at the same time.

"Samuel," Rowena returned obligingly.

"You know the rules on time travel."

"Och. Do I? Remind me to try it next time so I'll experience it for myself. Might have to slap someone back in the 17th century."

"I'm sure it won't be difficult for you, but the experience is not exactly pleasant. And pulling someone away from their timeline can have serious repercussions."

"But if you remember Gavin, there were hardly changes because he wasn't so vital to the history," Rowena reminded him. "Unless this girl is going to be an important figure decades from now, I don't see how there could be this so-called repercussions you speak of. No offense, dearie. I mean that in a broader sense."

Sam sighed. He knew she being purposefully stubborn. "Yeah, no." He smiled tightly.

"Because?"

He exchanged a look with Ro, who only gave him an encouraging, saccharine smile. "Right. Doesn't matter anymore." Sam fought an incoming headache. "She's your granddaughter from the future, Rowena. She and her sister are going to be the kids of your daughter."

Rowena blinked. "Oh."

"_Both_ of you are our grandparents," Ro corrected Sam.

Rowena blinked multiple times. "_Oh_."

Sam looked away. "Yeah."

Rowena tilted the girl's chin to her, scrutinizing her thoughtfully. "That explains the hair and the eyes. Resembled us more than the parents, aren't you?" She patted Ro's cheek affectionately.

Sam waited for the relentless teasing that never came.

Rowena stood and clapped her fingers. "Let's get to bringing you girls back, shall we?"

* * *

Sam noted that Rowena wasn't any less fond of Kelly when she and Dean joined them at the library. Rowena merely nodded in greeting at Dean, and there was the typical lilt of her voice when she said 'Castiel' when the fallen angel came to the room with Jack.

Sam was surprised when Rowena didn't point out the apparent tension they could almost taste in the air when Dean and Cas met each other's eyes.

"Go on, dearies," Rowena encouraged the girls, seemingly excited to witness her granddaughters' capabilities. "Perform the same spell you did. Don't mind us here."

Somehow, the girls were hardly assured, suddenly self-conscious to be watched. Sam wondered if their meticulousness was due to them hovering over the two.

"Done," Ro announced when the cauldron began producing a thin trail of smoke.

"A modified spell," Rowena recognized.

Kelly nodded. "It's Ro's idea. Makes the spell difficult to replicate."

Ro preened.

"Well, to be fair to you girls, your only mistake was using the wrong phonetics; therefore, you overdid it," Rowena began to explain, pointing at the written incantation of the spell the girls wrote down. "Barely a novice's mistake."

"Did she just compliment somebody else's witchcraft?" Dean whispered to Sam.

Sam shrugged.

Sam and Dean watched with bated breath as Rowena walked the girls step by step to redo the same spell that would help them return in an exact time before they vanished in their timeline.

Jack's wandering eyes that bounced curiously between all the people inside the library went unnoticed. When Cas glanced at him questioningly, Jack turned to the small light show happening on the cauldron as Rowena cited an additional Latin phrase.

The whole affair was underwhelming, all things considered. Ro and Kelly wrote the slightly different inscriptions on the nearest door until there was a bright glow that came from the other side.

The door no longer led to the restroom, Jack mused, fascinated.

"That's quick," Ro muttered. Kelly agreed.

"Because you dearies are talented," Rowena told them with a soft expression that didn't usually grace her features. She was being sincere, that much was obvious. "Keep it up, girls. Your Mom must be proud of you two."

"So this is goodbye, huh." Dean approached. "Try to avoid accidentally time-traveling next time," he jested.

Kelly grinned at him. Dean allowed the urge to ruffle her hair. There was a kind of understanding that passed between them when he received a nod from Ro.

"Take care, will you," was Sam's last piece of advice to them, not wanting to be too emotional about something he would forget in a few minutes. "We'll see you girls around, I guess."

But damn it, it was hard not to.

"Uncle Jack," Kelly called, startling Jack at the title. "We're ready."

Jack's fingers tapped them on their foreheads. "You'll forget about this once you passed that door," he said. "Personally, I'd rather you remember," he whispered to them.

Ro's eyes that reminded Jack of Sam were lit in amusement, with Kelly equally so. Jack didn't get what was funny. "We know you'd say that. Just take care of Cas, okay? We'll see you around too." Ro winked.

With a final wave, Kelly opened the door for the both of them. It closed on their backs without showing any glimpse of the other side. The whole thing happened within five seconds without much of a fanfare.

"I'll go first," Dean stated once the moment passed, walking to Jack. He wasn't happy that he wouldn't get to keep this memory, but Jack admired Dean's decisiveness.

Jack shook his head. "I think it'll be better if I do this all at once. Castiel said that he wanted to be included in this too."

"I know very little, but it'd be safer this way," Cas told them.

"Now wait just a second, what is the angel saying?" Rowena butted in.

"We have to wipe this encounter from everyone's mind, Rowena, and that includes yours," Sam answered.

"Why, I don't remember agreeing to a bloody memory erasure, Samuel," she retorted.

"Rowena—"

"No," she said firmly. "What if not remembering is what changes the outcome? I don't want to forget that I saw what I'll have one day. I don't—I don't want to, Sam. Please."

Sam came closer, gingerly holding her by the shoulders in comfort. "Rowena," he tried again. "Nothing is set in stone, but if there's one thing I want to believe in, it's that some things will happen no matter what. And I know in my gut that those two sisters are one of those. You'll have them. _We_ will have them and their mother and their uncle. For now, we just have to wait."

It was the point where Dean was supposed to make fun of Sam, of him and Rowena making googly eyes on each other in front of everyone. But that could wait, he thought, not when Cas was slotting his hand against his and Dean was letting him.

Dean wondered multiple things at once.

He wondered faintly if he would remember this particular bit afterward. He didn't want to forget Cas's fingers entwined with his for the first time.

Dean wondered if the brief moment counted as contentment and happiness on Cas's side.

Dean wondered if the Shadow was coming after Cas in the next ten seconds for feeling a momentary satisfaction.

Unbeknownst to them, Jack set to work.

* * *

It wasn't Jack's intention, but he saw them for himself anyway: the pieces of memories of Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Rowena as he sifted through their heads.

He witnessed, with an outsider's perspective like that of an audience to a TV, Dean and Castiel's heated conversation two days ago on the subject of getting together more than friendship allowed them to be.

He witnessed the pull of attraction that began to form between Sam and Rowena while one of them thought it was happening only on a single side and the other thinking it was a fleeting fancy that became inexplicable the longer it lingered.

Jack barely understood most of the concepts, though it did make him understood what drove the actions of these people in his close circle.

It would certainly be a tough project, but while Jack was helplessly inept in the subject matter, he could make up for it with immense determination.

Jack began to plan.

* * *

**End**


End file.
